The 5-Step Guide to Becoming an Online Ticket Broker

Let’s face it: there’s a lot of junk flying around the internet these days about how “easy” it is to get rich on the internet. The bottom line is that no one gets rich online without providing value to their audience and clients. The only force that will compel someone to take our their wallets and punch in their credit card numbers is the promise of something valuable. Having that said:

Becoming an online ticket broker is a great way to provide value to your customers while also making a sizable profit. Many fans do not have the good fortune (or skills) to pull great seats off of Ticketmaster, so by learning the proper techniques, you can become middleman between Ticketmaster and die-hard concert and sports fans who are willing to pay you for those coveted tickets. Are you ready to learn how to become a ticket broker?

1) The first step in learning how to sell tickets online is the same as would apply to any start-up business: you need money to make money. If you are serious about the ticket brokering business, you will need to set aside at least a few thousand dollars to get your business off the ground. This money will be used to – you guessed it – buy tickets! You can’t sell ’em if you don’t have ’em, right? You will spend tens of thousands of dollars on tickets in the next few months, and it’s going to be at least a few weeks before you begin to see any revenue coming in. So make sure to be equipped with a few thousand to start you off.

2) Familiarize yourself with your business landscape. By that I mean, get to know how eBay and StubHub work because they will be making you all of your money. These sites operate very differently. For example, eBay allows listing designs; StubHub does not. eBay sellers pay shipping costs; StubHub sellers do not. eBay takes away about 7% in fees; StubHub takes away 15%. eBay allows buyer/seller interaction; StubHub does not. And these are just scratching the surface. When you go out there and begin selling your tickets, you don’t want to be caught off guard. Learn your territory, and profit will come your way.

3) This is the most important part of becoming a ticket broker: you need to understand how Ticketmaster works. No matter how great you are at every other aspect of ticket brokering, if you can’t pull premier seats on Ticketmaster consistently, then your efforts are wasted. The key to pulling great tickets on Ticketmaster is persistence. Read that last sentence again because that lesson has made me tens of thousands of dollars in ticket sales. In order to succeed as a ticket broker, you need to keep requesting tickets on Ticketmaster even after they’ve shown you the “Sold Out” screen. Don’t believe it! Have you ever seen an event “sell out” on Ticketmaster 2 minutes after tickets go on sale? Do you really think it’s possible for a stadium of 50,000 people to completely sell out in 2 minutes? Of course not. Ticketmaster tends to release their tickets in waves, and after each wave is complete, they will show the “Sold Out” screen. But don’t be deterred. The next wave is yet to come.

4) The other side of the coin is knowing how to sell tickets online. The most important factors to consider here is price and legitimacy. Think about it: do you really care who you’re buying tickets from as long as they seem legit and they offer you good seats? You really don’t care about their listing design, their auction title, all that stuff. What you really care about is the price and how legit they seem. You will seem legit merely by keeping your auction design clean and simple, but with all the important details. On top of that, you need to make sure to always keep your listings near the cheapest of the bunch (for similar tickets). If you have front row seats on sale for $500 and your closest competitors are all selling the same seats for $200, you’ll never sell yours. In this scenario, you need to keep your tickets priced no greater than $200. Even $199.99 is good enough to make your listing stand out over your competition. Make sure to always stay on top of your ticket prices.

5) Last but not least, it’s crucial in this business to keep meticulous records of your sales. The last thing you want is to be sending Dave Matthews tickets to someone who bought tickets to see U2. Or sending Row A tickets to someone who bought Row Q. You’ll end up wasting time, wasting money, and possibly wasting the entire sale. To stay on top of your records, it’s best to have an Excel spreadsheet with a column for every important aspect of your business: tickets sold, artist/team, price sold, date delivered, etc. This way you’ll always know where your tickets belong and you’ll never feel the pain of losing a sale due to poor record-keeping.

Starting a ticket broker business is definitely not a way to get rich fast. It’s a learning process that will take you a few weeks/months to completely master. But the profits are superb if you know what you’re doing. Take a look for yourself. Check eBay or StubHub for tickets to the next big game or concert. Look how many sellers are competing for your attention. All these sellers are working so hard to get your attention because they’re making money, and they know they can make more. Go confidently in their direction, work hard, and you’ll reap the rewards.